CURRICULUM AND ASSESSMENT
The education delivery includes a two-hour daily literacy block and a one-hour daily numeracy block. Individual learning plans are maintained for all students.Students are provided opportunities to work with the whole class, independently and cooperatively with other children and adults.
The school uses both the Australian Curriculum and the Victorian Curriculum. The Victorian Curriculum sets out what every student should learn during their first eleven years of schooling. The curriculum is the common set of knowledge and skills required by students for life-long learning, social development and active and informed citizenship. The Victorian Curriculum incorporates the Australian Curriculum and reflects Victorian priorities and standards. And the Australian Curriculum sets out the learning areas, general capabilities and cross-curricular priorities. The Australian Curriculum is designed to develop successful learners, confident and creative individuals, and active and informed citizens. The curriculum can be accessed and viewed using the links below:
https://victoriancurriculum.vcaa.vic.edu.au
https://www.australiancurriculum.edu.au
Students bring to school a wide range of experiences, abilities, needs and interests. They have a natural curiosity about their world. Their desire to make sense of the world provides a platform to plan and review their learning through interactions with others, experimentation, scaffolding, explicit teaching, practice and play in the classroom and beyond.
LEARNING F – 2
During the first years of learning in primary schools, teachers aim to create a safe and happy environment where students are valued, praised, and encouraged rather than constantly tested.
In Foundation to Grade 2, students are encouraged to make sense of the world around them through real-life experiences.
The curriculum for Foundation to Grade 2 emphasises literacy and numeracy skills. There are also opportunities for the development of physical, creative and information/communication technology (ICT) skills, as students are encouraged to explore their world.
The foundation knowledge, skills and behaviours that children must develop in Levels 1 and 2 to become successful learners at school are:
- English (reading, writing, speaking and listening)
- mathematics
- the arts (creating and making)
- interpersonal development (with an emphasis on socialisation)
- health and physical education (movement and physical activity)
LEARNING 3 – 4
The Australian Curriculum across Grades 3–6 assists students to develop their ability to take positive action for well-being; relate and communicate well with others; pose questions and solve problems; make informed decisions and act responsibly. It engages students more purposefully with the discipline knowledge, understanding and skills of the eight learning areas of the Australian Curriculum.
At Levels 3 and 4, students begin to respond to information, ideas and beliefs from contexts beyond their immediate experience. Consistent with this development, additional standards across a range of domains in the three strands are introduced.Students are also expected to achieve standards in science, the humanities, thinking processes, design, creativity and technology, personal learning, and civics and citizenship.
LEARNING 5 to 6
This period of schooling, referred to as the middle years, coincides with early adolescence. This is a time when many students are developing rapidly - physically, mentally and emotionally.
Schools have strategies in place to ensure students are challenged and their literacy and numeracy skills continue to grow. Middle year’s programs also support the development of relationships between primary schools and secondary schools, to ease the transition of students between the two.
You can prepare for the transition from primary to secondary school by helping your child become increasingly self-reliant while in upper primary school by slowly increasing your child’s responsibility for completing homework, caring for school belongings, and getting to school on time.
At Level 5-6, standards are introduced in the remaining domains of History, Geography, Economics and Communication. Students at this level should be able to achieve the full range of knowledge and skills required by the Standards.
TRANSITION FROM PRIMARY TO SECONDARY SCHOOL
As part of the transition from Year 6 to Year 7, students in primary schools participate in an orientation day, often the second Tuesday of December. This may include a school tour, meeting fellow students and teachers, and taking part in special lessons and activities. Check with your local school for details.
COMPUTERS
A major school focus is the integration of computer technology (Learning Technologies) into children’s learning. We have a modern computer system that is fully networked and connected to the Internet. All children at our school use computers to assist with language activities such as reading, writing and spelling. They also use computers as research tools to conduct research for projects. The school makes use of the ‘Mathletics’ program to aid and enhance the work that students do in numeracy. Each student has their own computer and each classroom has an interactive electronic whiteboard.
PHYSICAL EDUCATION
Another area of priority at Lindenow South is Physical Education. All children participate on a weekly basis in a full program of physical activity. This also includes special programs such as the ten-week swimming program which is conducted each year in term 1.
PERFORMING ARTS
The school invites visiting performing arts groups to visit on a semi regular basis. These include dramatic and musical performances. As opportunities arise we also travel to attend concerts and dramatic presentations within the East Gippsland region. We also work towards our own performances for the annual school concert held early in term 4.
MUSIC
The music program is run and maintained by our part time music specialist who teaches across the whole school every second Wednesday.
LOTE
The whole school learns French as a second language. The LOTE program is run and maintained by our part time French specialist who teaches across the whole school each Wednesday.
SCHOOL CAMP
Each year the grade 3 – 6 class participates in a four or five day camp to a specific educational location where they undertake a variety of activities which are designed to stimulate them educationally and provide valuable social interaction with the broader community.
EXCURSIONS
Excursions are arranged at reasonable intervals during the year to enable children to have first-hand contact with a variety of experiences. Parents can expect to be notified, in writing, well in advance of any proposed excursions and should understand that no child can be taken on an excursion unless written permission and authority to take emergency action in case of illness is received from that child’s parent.
